Sonny Bill Williams Switches to Rugby Sevens for a Shot at Rio

Sonny Bill Williams playing Super Rugby. New Zealand's rugby sevens coach said Williams has skills suited to the shorter, faster sevens version of the game.CreditMichael Bradley/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Emma Stoney

Aug. 19, 2015

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — After winning National Rugby League titles in Australia, a Rugby Union World Cup with New Zealand and a Super Rugby championship with the Chiefs, the code-hopping star Sonny Bill Williams is making another switch as he eyes his biggest prize yet: Olympic gold.

Rugby sevens will make its Olympic debut in next year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro, and New Zealand Rugby announced on Wednesday that Williams had been included in the initial squad for next season’s World Sevens Series (and Olympics). He will be joined on the team by another current All Black, Liam Messam, as both focus on the shorter, faster version of the sport in 2016 in preparation for the Olympics.

It means neither is expected to play for the Chiefs next year in a revamped Super Rugby competition that will feature new teams in Argentina and Japan and the return of the South African franchise, the Southern Kings.

Williams, who also has dabbled in boxing over the years and is undefeated in his fledgling heavyweight career, has never played sevens rugby. He has made an impact, though, wherever he has played, whether rugby union or league.

The chance to play in Rio was one of the key factors in Williams’s decision to return to rugby union in 2014, after numerous switches between league and union since his initial code-hopping in 2008, when he quit the Canterbury Bulldogs, a rugby league team in Australia, for the rich French rugby union club Toulon.

“The best sportsmen ever have been Olympians — Bolt, Ali, the list goes on,” Williams said, referring to the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and the boxer Muhammad Ali. “It’s just an amazing opportunity to become one of those.”

All Blacks Sevens Coach Gordon Tietjens has seen enough of Williams’s talents — particularly his speed, strength and offloading ability — in the 15-man game to give the 6-foot-3, 238-pound midfield back a chance in sevens.

“He’s certainly got all the skill sets to be a very, very good sevens player,” said Tietjens, who has coached New Zealand to two Sevens World Cup titles, four Commonwealth Games gold medals and a dozen World Series titles, the annual competition played in cities all over the globe. “He’s never played sevens, but he’ll be involved in six World Series tournaments to demonstrate that he’s worthy of going to Rio. He will certainly be given every opportunity to pursue his dream.”

Williams has committed to doing sevens full time after the Rugby World Cup, which starts next month in England with New Zealand defending its 2011 title.

He will have to undergo Tietjens’s notoriously tough training regimes and stick to an equally strict diet to get himself in shape for the wide-open play in the shorter, faster game.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be any good at sevens; that’s why it’s pretty scary. But I sure as hell am going to try my hardest,” Williams said. “It’s going to be a massive challenge, probably the biggest of my career, but I’m definitely going to give it my all.

“If you are lucky enough to make the squad, you don’t want to let anyone down or past players down because New Zealand sevens has such a rich history in the sport. The team that makes the trip to Rio doesn’t want to come back with anything other than gold.”

While Williams and Messam are not expected to play for the Chiefs, other Super Rugby players included in the squad announced Wednesday — Ardie Savea (Hurricanes) and the brothers Akira and Rieko Ioane (Blues) — will split their time between sevens and 15s.

With Olympic medals now up for grabs, countries have poured more resources into sevens over the past few years, and Tietjens said that has made the competition fiercer — and important for players to get playing time in the sport, even if they have already proved themselves.

“We’re playing in a series now that’s so competitive, and that’s the key,” Tietjens said. “You just can’t pull someone out of a 15-a-side program and go and play for the All Blacks Sevens at the Olympic Games. It just wouldn't work.”